Over the years University of Virginia professor Carol Ann Tomlinson has had several opportunities to teach with colleagues. Most of her experiences, both in her public school teaching days and at the university, have been quite positive and have contributed to her growth as a teacher. In this article Tomlinson describes her first, longest, and…

Students whose parents receive regular and personalized messages with actionable information from teachers are more likely to succeed in school. But effective data-sharing programs require more than simply sending data home. They also encourage educators and families to make connections with each other, sharing observations about how a child…

"One of the most powerful educational tools available to students and teachers lies hidden in plain sight, in every classroom--conversation," writes Susan Engel. The conversational exchanges that happen naturally between parents and young children are full of questions that can lead to learning. Within the context of these casual…

Stephanie Smith understands why parents in the urban area where she teaches balk when she calls to ask if she can visit them at home to talk about their child and meet the family. Her family would've balked too when Smith was in elementary school. "The abyss between the school's bright lights and the government housing I grew up in…

For the 12 years that Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City, the Big Apple was home to the nation's largest experiment in implementing the business model of education reform. The numbers of public school closings and new charter schools soared, while the high school student assignment system was overhauled to be driven by choice. By the…

Charter schools--what was their original promise? They would enroll diverse groups of students. They would give teachers the room and power to innovate. They would be educational laboratories that would find new ways to reach students, and they would share those lessons with other public schools. But charter schools haven't lived up to their…